
Illastt<ated 



12 liantepn Slides 



WILLIAM H, RAU 

PHILADELPHIA 
1890 



A 



DESCRIPTIVE READING 



ON 



JAPAN 



ILLUSTRATED BY TWELVE LANTERN 
SLIDES 



BY EDMUND STIRLING 



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WILLIAM H. R^U 

PHILADELPHIA 



Copyright, iSgo, by William H. Rau, 



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ILLUSTRATIONS, 



1. Panorama of Yokohama. 

2. Jin-Riki-Sha. 

3. A Tea House. 

4. Harbor of Nagasaki. 

5. Buddhist Temple at Nagasaki. 

6. Carved Entrance to a Temple, Nikko. 

7. Sacred Stables, Nikko, 

8. Osaka Castle. 

9. Mikado's Palace, Kioto. 
10. Cemetery at Tokio. 

ir. Botanic Gardens, Tokio. 

12. Bronze Statue of Buddha, near Kamakura. 



JAPAN. 



The Empire of Japan, or Dai Nippon, as the peo- 
ple call their beautiful country, occupies in the field 
of history and of scientific research a far more im- 
portant position than its mere geographic position 
and area would seem to warrant, or than the popular 
estimate of the subject would assign. Japan is no 
longer merely the name of a country in the far East ; 
her people walk our streets, the product of her art 
forms the choicest adornments of our homes, and her 
youth attend our universities and colleges, the rivals 
of our own students. Including a territory equal 
nearly to our New England and Middle States, two- 
thirds of which is mountain land, Japan has a popu- 
lation equal to half that of the United States. Scholars 
nowadays no longer look upon the Japanese as a 
people whose origin is the same as that of the Chinese, 
and they are recognized as the first of the Asiatic 
nations to enter modern life. That they will keep the 
high place they have already gained, and attain their 
aspiration of being ranked among the foremost nations 
of the earth, is the confident expectation of those who 
have studied her progress and history. The student 
of her history finds an added interest in the fact that 
for so many years Japan was a closed book to the 
world, and it has only been within our own time that 
her ports have been opened to our merchants and 
travelers.. 

(241) 



242 JAPAN. 

1. Panorama of Yokohama. — The first place in 
Japan reached by the traveler from America is Yoko- 
hama. It was near the then fishing village of 
Yokohama that Commodore Perry anchored with his 
fleet of American war-ships on the yth of July, 1853, 
and delivered his letter, the outcome of which was the 
opening of the *' treaty-ports" and the subsequent 
revolution which made _ so vital a change in the 
destiny of Japan. Yokohama owed its growth to a 
disaster which befel the neighboring port of Shimoda, 
and so radical has been its progress that it has come 
to be known as the '* upstart metropolis of the 
foreigners." The town itself, across which we are 
looking, is compactly built of low houses with tiled 
roofs, mostly bungalows (or single storied structures) 
and two storied houses. The foreign settlement oc- 
cupies a plain by itself, about a mile square, while 
behind is a semi-circle of hills known as "the bluffs," 
which are covered with handsome villas. Near the 
town was the former great highway to the Shogun's 
capital, Yeddo, or, as it has since been designated, 
Tokio. 

2. Jiu-Riki-Sha. — Among the most peculiar 
sights which attract the attention of the foreigner 
are the vehicles used by the Japanese, th.Q jin-riki-s ha ^ 
or man-power-carriage, being the type of pleasure 
carriage used by all classes of the people. This is a 
sort of baby carriage on "grown-up" wheels, and is 
drawn by one, two or three men, according to the 
means of the owner. These are of the better class ; 
many are lavishly decorated with lacquer and gold 
work, and vehicles of this sort are often seen in the 
form of a boat, with a huge bird as a figure head. The 



JAPAN. 243 

streets of Yokohama, and indeed of all the cities of 
the empire, are paved with hard white stone and 
cement, which resists the cutting action of the sharp 
edged wheels most admirably. The wheels of the 
native carts have no metal tires, and appear to need 
none, the felloes being morticed in segments. The 
carts are propelled by four men, and their sharp cry 
as they drag their heavy burdens is one of the most 
peculiar sounds one hears there. The streets are 
famous for their cleanliness, one traveler having said 
that while China was the dirtiest, Japan was the clean- 
est country he had ever seen. 

3. A Tea House. — Although the people of Japan 
are not without intoxicating drinks, their great bever- 
age is tea, and the tea houses and their surrounding 
gardens are the popular resort of the people. This is 
a typical tea house of Yokohama. The waiters are 
beautiful maidens, and the delicate mixture which 
they supply is a luxury with which the outside world 
is but little acquainted. The Japanese would not 
touch the strong, rank infusion which we like so well ; 
he regards that and our mixture of milk as a sign of 
our barbarism. It is said that tea was drunk in Japan 
as early as the ninth century, having been brought 
there from China by the Buddhist priests. The cul- 
ture from some cause or other died out, and the tea 
plant was brought a second time from China by the 
Buddhists, in the twelfth century. Now, tea is the 
chief agricultural product of the empire, one district 
having produced two crops a year for upwards of 
nine hundred years. The tea exported to America 
alone was estimated several years ago at 16,000,000 



244 JAPAN. 

pounds annually, and the value of the total exports of 
this staple in a single year was nearly ;^8, 000,000. 

4. Harbor of Nag^asaki. — The second in import- 
ance of the open ports is Nagasaki, which is on the 
western shore of the Island ot Kiushia. Its most strik- 
ing natural feature is its magnificent harbor. In that 
region of sudden storms, such a refuge is of inesti- 
mable value, and our view shows how it is appreciated 
and how much it is used. It is seven miles long by 
one mile wide, and ships can lie securely at anchor in 
five or six fathoms of water. Prior to the American 
treaty Nagasaki was the only port open to foreign 
traders, and the Dutch and Chinese merchants were 
strictly confined to the artificial island of Desima, 
only 600 feet by 250 feet in size, off the shore. The 
town is built on the hill slopes facing the harbor, and 
is noted for the beauty of its temples and public build- 
ings. It is provided with dry-docks and slips for the 
accommodation of the shipping, besides a hospital, 
theatres, tea houses and gardens. Nagasaki was the 
scene of many stirring events in the history of the 
empire, only one of which can be mentioned — the 
crucifixion of several Francisian and Jesuit priests 
who fell victims to the movement which stamped out 
Roman Christianity in the sixteenth century. 

5. Buddhist Temple at Nag^asaki. — The ancient 
religion of the Japanese, and the established state 
worship of to-day, is Shintoism, but the principle of 
Buddhism early took so powerful a hold upon the 
people that in number of adherents it outranks 
Shinto. The temples of the former number 98,914, 
and are marvels of elaborate carvings, rich decor- 



JAPAN, 24.5 

ations, and impressive ceremonial, the priests and 
religious numbering, according to a careful esti- 
mate, nearly 212,000 persons. While the Buddhist 
temples are splendid to such an extent as to almost 
defy description, those of the Shinto religion are 
severely plain. The wood is unpainted, no metal 
work is allowed, and the shrines and holy places are 
entirely destitute of the ornamentation which is the 
glory of the other. Divinity, they taught, needed no 
outward show; and the Japanese are to be distin- 
guished above all the nations of the Orient for the 
severe simplicity of the tombs of their monarchs. 

6. Carved Entrance to a Temple, Nikko. — The 

most gorgeous of the Buddhist shrines and temples 
are those at Nikko, one hundred miles north of 
Tokio. Here is a hill upon the slope of which one 
of the Buddhist saints, about 767 A. D., had declared 
the ancient Shinto diety of the mountain to be a 
manifestation of Buddha to Japan — a master-stroke 
of theological policy which did more than anything 
else to win the Japanese to the religion of Nervana. 
Early in the seventeenth century a magnificent shrine 
was erected here as the resting place of lyeyasu, one 
of the greatest of the Shoguns of Japan. From that 
time until the disestablishment of Buddhism the chief 
priest of Nikko was a prince of the imperial blood. 
Another of the Shoguns was buried here, and numer- 
ous additions were made to its noble collection of 
shrines and temples. Much of the glory of Nikko 
has departed, however, with the Buddhist priests and 
ceremonies, though the carvings and decorations, 
and much of the paraphernalia of their worship 



246 JAPAN. 

remains. This is a carved entrance to one of the 
temples within the sacred enclosure. 

7. Sacred Stables, Nikko. — Another striking spec- 
imen of the beauties of the sacred architecture of 
these shrines of Nikko, or "Sunny Splendor," is the 
splendid stable in which were kept the three sacred 
Albino horses which were kept for the use of the 
Gongen (or Diety) of Nikko. The shrines are con- 
tained in a successive series of court^yards and 
temples, each so rich that one seems to be passing 
from splendor to splendor, so that it is "almost a re- 
lief to reach the last and feel that the strain on one's 
capacity for admiration is over." The carvings, many 
of them of great antiquity, are the most wonderful 
works of their kind in Japan. Some of them are from 
10 to 15 inches deep, and single feathers in the tails 
of the pheasants stand out fully six inches in front of 
peonies nearly as deep. A capable writer, in an ac- 
count of a visit to these temples, has said: "It is 
difficult to do justice to their beauty in words. I 
have the memory before me of a place green in winter, 
pleasant and cool in the hottest summer, of peaceful 
cloisters, of the fragrance of incense, of the subdued 
chant of richly robed priests, and the music of bells 
of exquisite designs, harmonious coloring and rich 
gilding." 

8. Osaka Castle. — Although but a ruin of its 
former greatness the famous Castle of Osaka is still 
the glory and pride of the city of that name, 37 miles 
southwest of Kioto. The city is the third or fourth 
of the cities of Japan, but it takes a foremost rank 
socially and commercially. But it is with its historical 



JAPAN. 247 

associations that we are chiefly interested. The castle 
belonged to the Shin sect of the Buddhists, and was 
the retreat and hiding place of those who defied the 
Mikado's power. About the year 1579 it was be- 
seiged by Nobanaga, and was not subdued until the 
imperial forces had occupied four of the five con- 
nected fortresses comprising the castle, and not till, 
after the loss of 20,000 of the garrison. From that day 
Osaka has remained in the hands of the government 
Again, the Christian cause in Japan received its death- 
blow at a great battle here in the same year in which the 
Puritans landed at Plymouth ; and to go back into the 
dim ages of tradition, Jimma, the child of the Sun 
Goddess, the first Mikado, is said to have landed 
here. 

9. Mikado's Palace, Kioto. — This venerable line 
of monarchs, claiming an unbroken line for twenty- 
five centuries, reigns by divine right, the Mikado 
being regarded as himself of divine origin, the King 
of Heaven. Kioto was for seventeen centuries the 
residence of the Mikados, and the beauty of its 
position and its thousand historical and holy associa- 
tions invest the place with an interest which belongs 
to no other place in Japan. The view before us shows 
a portion of the Mikado's palace with one of the in- 
terior court-yards. The comparative simplicity of the 
buildings is in striking contrast to some of the mag- 
nificent buildings of the worshippers of Buddha, but 
it must be remembered that the ancient religion of 
the Emperors is that of Shinto, and according to that 
belief the circumstances and attributes of diety were 
enough. Gaudy display and luxury were seemly for 
ordinary mortals, but the Mikado needed none. Ex 



248 JAPAN. 

cept for its size and slightly greater elevation the 
"palace " is hardly to be distinguished from the resi- 
dences of the nobles, or from a temple. 

10. Cemetery at Tokio. — It has been said that 
two of the most estimable characteristics of the 
Japanese are the respect in which they hold their 
dead, and the attention which they pay to everything 
which can render their cemeteries attractive. The 
cemeteries of Tokio, of which this is one, are care- 
fully kept, and one of their most striking features is 
the absence of that grim contrast, so often seen at 
home, between the living and the dead. The tombs 
befit the position which their occupants held in life, 
a fact from which many complacent products of our 
Western civilization might take a needed lesson. The 
monuments are of solid granite, often simple obelisks, 
and bear nothing but the names of the deceased. 
Sometimes the monument takes the form of Buddha 
seated on the lotus blossom. The tombs are kept 
scrupulously neat and clean, and every day hundreds 
of persons are seen in the cemeteries engaged in tend- 
ing the graves, lighting fresh incense sticks, or re- 
moving the faded flowers and replacing them with 
fresh ones. Cremation is now permitted, and the 
number of bodies so disposed of increases annually. 

11. Botanic Gardens, Tokio. — Perhaps the most 
popular of the resorts of the people are the botanic 
gardens, of which this at Tokio is among the most 
famous, for the Japanese are passionately fond of 
flowers. The badges or crests of the Mikado and the 
nobles are floral, and '* cherry-viewing," "iris and 
peony viewing," etc., are a part of the annual routine 



JAPAN. 249 

of Japanese life. There is a guild of florists at the 
capital, and the skill of the gardener is hereditary, 
skill in certain lines being handed down from father 
to son. Dwarfing, unnatural local enlargement and 
the encouragement of all sorts of freaks of nature are 
the delight and specialty of the natives. The gardens 
abound in hedges and borders of clipped tea plants, 
tiny trees an inch or two high, and rare plants of all 
the varieties known in Japan ; besides tortoises, cats, 
umbrellas, male foreigners in hats and female in crino- 
line, boats, storks, horses, etc., which appear in forms 
of living green. 

12. Bronze Statue of Buddha, near Kamakura. 

— As no pious Buddhist, nor enterprising traveler, 
omits a visit to the Dai Butsu, or Great Buddha, at 
Kamakura, we shall visit that famous shrine before 
our trip to Japan is over. This is one of the many 
monuments of the piety and zeal of the mediaeval 
monks and nuns, and so far as known dates from the 
thirteenth century, although the place has been the 
site of a temple of a much greater antiquity. The 
image is composed of sheets of copper bronze, and is 
49 feet 7 inches high, and the width from knee to 
knee is 35 feet 2 inches. These figures convey little 
to the average mind, but if you will note the men 
grouped about the statue a better idea of its colossal 
size will be obtained. The image was formerly in- 
closed by a large building, but this was destroyed by 
successive inundations, and no trace of it now remains 
but the stone bases of the pillars which supported the 
roof 



